Jet Li

Jet Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963) is a martial artist, actor, and philanthropist. With a career spanning more than forty years, he is regarded as one of the greatest Chinese film stars and one of the greatest martial artists in the history of cinema. His film career in Asia is credited with revitalising Hong Kong kung fu cinema, popularising the wuxia genre, and restoring global interest in the Shaolin Temple during the 1980s. Trained as a wushu athlete at the Beijing Shichahai Sports School, he won multiple national championships with the Beijing Wushu Team from 1974 to 1979 under the guidance of coach Wu Bin. After retiring from competitive wushu in 1979, he made his feature film debut in Shaolin Temple (1982), a runaway success followed by two sequels (1984 and 1986). Li established himself as a leading Asian action star by portraying legendary folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the critically acclaimed Once Upon a Time in China series (1991–1993). Following his directorial debut with Born to Defence (1988), he anchored a string of highly successful 1990s projects; these included the wuxia epics Swordsman II (1992) and Fong Sai-yuk (1993), followed by the martial arts films Tai Chi Master (1993) and Fist of Legend (1994). He then successfully reinvented his screen image with a series of popular gun fu action films, including High Risk (1995), Black Mask (1996), and Hitman (1998). Li made his Hollywood transition as the antagonist in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), leading to a prolific international career featuring starring roles in Romeo Must Die (2000) and the Luc Besson-produced films Kiss of the Dragon (2001) and Unleashed (2005). He returned to Asian cinema for Zhang Yimou's Academy Award-nominated Hero (2002) and Fearless (2006), followed by The Warlords (2007), which earned him the Best...